1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of assisting selection of an action which assists a player selected action of a virtual person called a xe2x80x9ccharacterxe2x80x9d displayed on a game screen and a program product and game system using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, game programs have been developed using sophisticated technology. Some of these game programs are for role playing games enabling a player to enjoy a fight between a virtual person called a xe2x80x9cplayer characterxe2x80x9d positioned in a three-dimensional virtual space and one or more other virtual persons called xe2x80x9cenemy charactersxe2x80x9d. Some of these programs enable a player to select a weapon, defensive gear, or magic to be used by the player character when making the player character execute an attack on an enemy character. If this type of game program is used, the player can enjoy the game in the manner he or she desires.
In particular, magic enables an attack not possible by a weapon or a defense, so games using magic offer much more variety than a conventional type of game program using only weapons. Therefore, developers of game programs tend to develop game programs using more magic. This magic sometimes includes a plurality of types of magic effective for an enemy character and a plurality of types of magic effective for a player character. Further, the range of actual effects of magic effective for an enemy character (range of effects) sometimes differs from that of a player character depending on the type of the magic.
Summarizing the problems to be solved by the invention, the possible range of attack by a weapon can be the range of effect of the weapon or the range of effect of action using that weapon. The range of effect of a weapon differs depending on the weapon. In the case of a usual weapon, however, a player can easily determine the range of effect of the weapon from the name of the weapon. Therefore, selection of the desired weapon by a player in a fight scene is usually easy. In the case of magic, however, special names are usually given. Further, the name of the magic usually has nothing at all to do with the range of effect of the magic. Therefore, when the player does not remember the range of effect of the magic, the player sometimes cannot judge if magic is effective for the player character or effective for an enemy character by just looking at the name of the magic and sometimes cannot intuitively determine the range of effect of the magic.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method of assisting selection of action which assists a player obtaining an intuitive grasp of the range of effect of action when the player is selecting action which the player wants a character to execute from among a plurality of actions, such as magic, which the character can execute, and a program product and game system using the same.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of assisting selection of action for assisting a player in selecting one of a plurality of actions which a character on a screen can execute. The method includes displaying a plurality of options linked with the plurality of actions on the screen and previewing the range of effect of an action corresponding to an option selected by operational input by the player from among the plurality of displayed options. In this context, previewing the range of effect of action on the screen means to display the range of effect on the screen regardless of whether actual execution of that action will occur.
The present invention achieves a function of previewing the range of effect of action, that is, displaying the range of effect of action before execution of the action to enable the range of effect of action to be checked before the player selects the action to be executed by the character. As a result, the player can determine the differences in the ranges of effect of various actions.
In the present invention, the method further comprises shifting from the state of previewing the range of effect of action on the screen to execution of action corresponding to the selected option (action) in response to an operational input by the player. Further, the method further comprises, in the previewing state, switching the range of effect of action previewed each time by switching the option selected by the operational input by the player. Further, the plurality of options preferably are comprised of a plurality of icons corresponding to a plurality of actions. Further, the plurality of icons may be divided into a plurality of groups of icons and, in displaying the options, one group of icons among the plurality of groups of icons may be displayed-on the screen and the displayed group of icons may be switched to another group of icons in response to an operational input by a player. More preferably, the method further comprises determining the range of effect of action based on the position of the character and, in the previewing state, displaying a graphic expressing the determined range of effect of action on the screen. Further, the previewing preferably displays the area of effect of the action in the virtual space in which the character is positioned as the range of effect of action and displays the graphic positioned in the virtual space on the screen.
By using the method of assisting selection of action of the present invention, a player can easily select action having a desirable range of effect from among the plurality of actions able to be executed by a character on the screen.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program product that stores a program for a video game to be executed by a computer, the program making the computer display on the screen a plurality of options linked with a plurality of actions able to be executed by a character on a screen and preview the range of effect of an action corresponding to an option selected by operational input by a player from among the plurality of displayed options.
According to this aspect of the present invention, it is possible to obtain a program product storing a program enabling a player to easily select an action having a desirable range of effect from among the plurality of actions able to be executed by a character on the screen during the game.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a game system for executing an action selected by a player among a plurality of actions which a character on a screen can execute, comprising a means for displaying a plurality of options linked with the plurality of actions on the screen and a means for previewing the range of effect of an action corresponding to an option selected by operational input by the player from among the plurality of displayed options.
According to this aspect of the present invention, it is possible to obtain a game system enabling a player to easily select an action having a desirable range of effect from among the plurality of actions able to be executed by a character on the screen during the game.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a game system used along with a display device for displaying an image of a game and an input device for inputting an operation by a player, provided with a computer programmed so as to display on the screen graphic information showing the range of effect of action designated by operational input by the player from the input device of the plurality of actions able to be executed by a character on the screen.
The present disclosure relates to subject matter contained in Japanese Patent Application No. HEI 11-209855, filed on Jul. 23, 1999, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.